Jose Reyes watches from the dugout after pulling himself from the Reds game.

Jose Reyes blew it. He should have followed in the great Ted Williams footsteps .

Met fans don’t really get much to cheer about unless its every 15-20 years. The last big thing we had was 1986. Yesterday could have been a shiny moment, although not grand, but still something to cheer about after another horrible season.

Jose Reyes won the National league batting crown which for those of you not in the know, means he hit for a higher batting average than anyone else in his league. Not an easy thing to do and especially if you are a NY Met. There has never been a NY Met to win the National league crown. I believe the last Met to get close was Cleon Jones in 1969. Sounds like a pretty good accomplishment for a Met but indeed it did not come without controversy.

Jose Reyes chose to take himself out of the game after getting a bunt single in the first inning, so as to preserve his lead in the standings and make it very difficult for the next closest hitter to catch him. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers was that hitter. He needed to go 3-4 in his final game to overtake Reyes. Knowing that , Reyes chose not to chance taking extra at bats. Bush league as some might say.

Ted Williams, when faced with the possibility of hitting .400 chose to play in both games of a double header instead of sitting out and letting his average remain at .400. That is what Reyes should have done. Earn it. Make it right and don’t cop out. Real accomplishments should be earned if they are to mean anything. Too bad for Braun, that he really never had a fair chance to go up against Reyes for at least four at bats.

Being a Met fan it only makes me feel worse. It seems that even our best players rarely do the right thing. I guess it really isn’t so bad after if I compare it to the self destruction of two of our best ballplayers, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, back in the 80’s. Those two guys really killed Met fans.

Sometimes its not what you accomplish in life, but it’s the character you show in trying, that really makes people admire you…..

2 Responses to “Cheap accomplishment for Met fans”

Jose Reyes is a very talented player. He is up for free agency and is using this as a bargaining “chip”. Perhaps he had an incentive clause in his contract that would reward him for winning the batting title. However, I agree with you, he should of played the whole game and had some class, something he and a lot of players in todays game seem to lack. I also feel it could be taken as the players decide when to play and not to play, depending on statistics and salary incentives. I realize times have changed since the days of the great Ted Williams and some of the guys we watched as kids and that’s a shame in many ways. Can you imagine Pete Rose telling Sparky Anderson to take him out of a game under these circumstances? Never happen. Reyes is a star, but things like this make you shake your head.

Some guys think I’m just showing my age by referencing the “old days” like you did by mentioning Pete Rose. But back then it just seemed like the game wasn’t played so much for money, but more so for the love of the game. I guess free agency changed most of that. Between greedy owners and selfish ballplayers, its always the fan that feels it the most. Any parent that expects or looks to today’s ball players as role models for their kids is fooling themselves or just plain too lazy to teach their own children who our true role models are. The shame of it is that the real role model dad that took his kid to the game and probably taught the kid all about the “batting title ” stat, and about Reyes, who was the one seeking it, was probably the one most disappointed that day. I am sure he was one of the many that day in the park that booed Reyes. The poor excuses that he and Collins gave were ridiculous. Thats why I don’t go out of my way to watch sports liek I used too. We care way more about the traditions of the game then the players do, or things like this would never happen…Btw, great example using Rose!